New law affects WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam War Veterans

Nashville, TN – The Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs, Many-Bears Grinder and the Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman will be presenting a high school diploma to Korean War Veteran, William Milton Duncan Wednesday, June 19th at 10:30am in the Senate Library in the State Capitol.

Mr. Duncan was drafted in 1951 and began serving in the United States Army during the Korean War. Due to his military service, Mr. Duncan left high school a few days before completing requirements for his diploma.

This presentation was made possible by the Tennessee General Assembly passing Public Chapter 736 on April 9th 2010.

Public Chapter 736 states that each Local Education Association (LEA) may issue a high school diploma to a veteran who failed to receive his/her diploma due to an interruption of their education by service in World War I, World War II, the Korean or the Vietnam War.

Tennessee Senator Mark Green, Representatives Joe Pitts, Curtis Johnson, and John Tidwell would like to encourage all veterans that served in the armed forces during these wars who were unable to obtain their high school diploma to take full advantage of this law.

“It makes me proud to be a Tennessean to see our state take such great care of these heroes. Each one of these veterans deserve everything we can do for them,” Senator Green stated.

“Awarding a high school diploma to these veterans is the right thing to do,” Representative Pitts said. “They put duty to country ahead of everything and we should recognize that sacrifice as a state. This is yet another small, but significant step in acknowledging their service.”

Representative Curtis Johnson stated, “So many of our veterans have sacrificed their educational pursuits to fight for our freedoms. This is the least we can do for them in honor of their service.”

“Our Military has gone the extra distance in recognition of their education by the State that which was due. I’m proud to have been a part of this bill,” Representative John Tidwell said.